Angle drive



1952 c. A. KOZA 2,582,336

ANGLE DRIVE Filed Sept. 4, 1948 27 1 Q fi fi IN VEN TOR.

CHARLES A. KOZA BY ArraR/vey Patented Jan. 15, 1952 ,unl'reo sTATES"DFFI-CE v ANGLE DRIVE -Charles-A. Koza, Pittsburgh, ,Pa; Originalapplication April '21, 1948, Serial 22,361. Divided and this"pplicaition 'Septem her '4, 1948, Serial No. 47,936

4 Claims. (01. 274-416) This invention relates to a-ngle drives and,more particularly, to angle drives which-are especially "useful in angledrills commonly employed for drilling holes in restricted places at anangle to the drivingshaft. The present application is a division of myearlier application Serial Number 22,361, entitled Angle Drill, filedApril 21, 1948, and issued February 22, 1 949, as PatentNo. 2,462,647.

In my earlier Patent No. 2,229,509, issued January 21, 19.41, on AngleDrillConstruction, of which the present-application is an improvement, asingle ,ball is provided at the juncture or apices of -two meshing bevelgears, which ball is seated in the respective gears, therefore resistsend thrust and is adjustable in position angularly to take up for wearof the relatively rotating :parts. A disadvantage of such ball that .dueto its relatively large size and large area of contact in the bevel gearseats, it does not freely rotate and often remains perfectly-stationary,resulting in accelerated wear of the bevel gear seats, causing crowding"of the gears together, misalignment, and considerable wearing thereofwhich shortens the life of the drill.

An object of the present invention is to provide a novel angle drive ofthe adjustable type which is devoid of the above mentioneddisadvantages.

A more specific object of the present invention is to provide a novelangle drive including adjustable end-thrust anti-friction bearing meansdisposed between the meshing bevel gears and so constructed as toconsiderably reduce friction and heating of the parts during use and tomaintain perfect alignment of the gears irrespective of wear of theparts.

Broadly stated, my invention relates to an angle drive, wherein twobevel or miter gears are in meshing relationship and two small ballbearings are provided, one seated in each face thereof and wherein anend thrust member having angularly disposed flat faces is adjustablypositioned at the juncture or apices of the gears in a manner so thatthe small balls will roll freely on such fiat faces of the common endthrust member, thereby permitting taking up for wear and for anytendency to get out of the proper angular alignment.

Other objects and advantages of this invention will become apparent froma study of the following specification taken with the accompanyingdrawing wherein The single figure is a longitudinal cross-sectlonal viewof a bevel gear drive embodying the principles of my invention.

In accordance with t'heprinciples-of thepresent invention, a smallanti-friction :bal1-J28is seated in a "suitable pocket formed in theendface of driving shaft 2| and a small anti-friction shall .Zi-iscorrespondingly seated :in the :end face of diriven shaft :24. Ananti-friction element and thrust element 126 is provided at the juncture:of the two bevel gears and may Lbein the form :of :a sphere having .twofiat, .angularly disposedfaces which are in contact with balls 28 and21, .re-

spectively. 'Thejs'e faces :are shown as :being disposed at an angle of190, but in case of a .4'5" drive, theywwould ibexdisiposed :at anangle-of 45"., etc. Aniadjustingiscrew 2551s screw threaded into acorner of the housing and abuts against member 26 so as to take up forwear; That is, by screwing in the ia'djustingscrew 25., member 28 movesfurther inwardlylcausing rolling of balls 21 and 28 on its flat facesand separating the bevel gears, thereby preventing their :crowdingtogether, which otherwise would result in excessive wear.

I he common adjustable member :26, therefore, serves to take up endthrust of both bevel Inasmuch as only a point of contact is providedbetween the small balls 21 and 28 and the flat surfaces of member 26,very little friction will be developed, thereby considerably increasingthe efficiency of the drive. Furthermore, since the small balls are freeto roll on such flat surface, any tendency towards lateral orlongitudinal displacement of the driving and driven shafts will beautomatically compensated for without the development of excessivefriction or wear. Also, since the fiat surfaces are at a definiteangular relationship, they will tend to keep the faces of the bevelgears in exactly the same angular relationship, even after the partswear appreciably. It is necessary to make only member 26 and the smallballs 21 and 28 of hard material. With such arrangement, therefore, itis unnecessary to make the seats of the driving and driven shafts ofhard material as would be required in the construction shown in myaforesaid earlier patent.

Thus it will be seen that driving shaft 2| has rigidly fastened theretobevel gear 22 which meshes with a driven bevel gear 23 rigidly fastenedto driven shaft 24. Adjusting screw 25 will move the common end thrustelement 26 so that the fiat faces thereof will be urged against smallanti-friction balls 21 and 28, respectively,

seated in the ends of the respective shafts 24 and 2|.

An important feature of my invention is that the angle drive hasrelatively few parts, which parts are simple and may be removed orreplaced with only a pair of pliers and a screw driver.

Thus it will be seen that I have provided a relatively simpleand'eflicient angle drive with an adjustable end thrust element commonto both meshing bevel gears and which is of such construction andarranged in such manner as to minimize wear and crowding of the gearsand prevent excessive friction otherwise caused from slight misalignmentof the respective shafts, also, which drive has solely a point ofcontact with the common adjustable end thrust element so as to reducethe frictional heat developed and considerably increase the efficiencyof the drive, thereby extending the life of the drive over aconsiderably longer period than that of conventional angle drives.

While my novel. adjustable angle drive is shown in a specific angledrive construction, it will be apparent that it is useful in otherdrives, such as in machinery, that is, in drives wherein the drivenmember is at an angle with respect .to the driving member.

While I have illustrated and described a single specific embodiment ofmy invention, it will be understood that this is by way of illustrationonly, and that various changes and modifications may be made within thecontemplation of my invention and within the scope of the followingclaims.

I claim:

..1. An angle drive comprising, in combination,

a housing, a shaft rotatably mounted in said housing, a second shaftrotatably mounted in said housing at an angle with respect to said.

first shaft, a bevel gear coaxial with and rigidly secured to each ofsaid shafts so as to mesh with each other within said housing, ananti-friction spherical surface provided on the adjacent faces at theends of said shafts, an adjusting screw extending through said housingand along a line extending through the points of intersection of theextended axes of said shafts, and an end thrust element having angularlydisposed faces held against said spherical surfaces by said adjustingscrew.

2. An angle drive as recited in claim 1 wherein said shafts and theirrespective bevel gears are arranged in right angular relationship andwherein said angularly disposed faces of said end thrust element arecorrespondingly at right angular relationship.

3. An angle drive as recited in claim 1 wherein said end thrust elementis in the form of an anti-friction ball having said angularly disposedfaces formed in.- one hemispherical portion thereof.

4. An angle drive comprising, in combination a housing, a shaftrotatably mounted in said housing, a second shaft rotatably mounted insaid housing at an angle with respect to said first shaft, a gearcoaxial with and rigidly secured to each of said shafts so as to meshwith each other within said housing, an anti-friction ball seated oneach of the adjacent faces at the ends of said shafts, an adjustingscrew extending through said housing and through the points ofintersection of the extended axes of said shafts, and an end thrustelement having angularly disposed faces held against said balls by saidadjusting screw.

CHARLES A. KOZA.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS

